Chibi Romano and Boss Spain at Hetalia Pre-school
by KassyMalone
Summary: When Antonio has no clue where to go for his work experience placement, Mr. Beilschmidt sticks him in the local pre-school, where his natural spaciness can't cause trouble. At the same time, little Romano arrives for his first day, but his stubbornness and sharp tongue make it difficult for him to make friends. AU. No pairings unless you look really, really hard.
1. Chapter 1

**Chibi Romano and Boss Spain at Hetalia Pre-school.**

"I'm sorry about this again." Mr Beilschmidt apologised as they walked though the hallway of the pre-school "But this idiot is so clueless about his future, we had no idea what to do with him."

"Oh, that's no problem." Mrs Héderváry, the pre-school owner, assured "It's always nice to have an extra pair of hands this time of year."

"This guy is kind of useless, though."

"I'm right here, _amigo_."

They both looked at him. The lovely Mrs Héderváry made quite a difference from the grumpy old Mr Beilschmidt, that was for sure.

"I'm sure you'll be fine." She assured him "You seem like the kind of boy kids really like."

"_Ja_, he gets along pretty well with Ludwig when he comes over with Gilbert." Mr Beilschmidt confirmed "I figured a kindergarten might keep him out of trouble while he's on work experience."

"Do you like children, Antonio?"

"Yeah, I like them okay." He confirmed, scratching his head absently "I don't have any siblings, though."

"I'm sure you'll be fine." She repeated "Just a few rules before you start – no dangling jewellery, no peanuts or shellfish, no cussing or swearing, no girls, and you absolutely mustn't wander off on your own with one of the children."

"Oh? Why's that?" Antonio asked.

"Well," she shuffled uncomfortably "Childcare is traditionally seen as womens work, so when a man shows an interest in children, it makes people uncomfortable. All your teachers vouched for your character, so I'm sure there won't be any problems, but its better safe than sorry."

"Oh, okay, sure."

_I don't get it._

"Antonio will be fine." Mr Beilschmidt confirmed "He's a little behind in that regard as it is."

Mrs Héderváry laughed. Antonio still didn't get it.

* * *

At the entrance, another introduction was taking place. Little Romano crossed his arms and pouted with all his might, but grandpa wasn't having it.

"Don't sulk, Romano." He urged "You'll have fun playing with the other children."

"No, I won't!" he insisted "They're stupid and I hate them!"

With a sigh, the elder Romano knelt down to his grandsons level, holding the back of baby Felicianos carrier so he wouldn't fall out. The little redhead laughed hysterically at the sudden movement.

"Romano, you have to learn to get along with others before you go to big school." He reminded him, patting his head "You don't want to upset your Nonno, do you?"

"Of course not!"

"Then you'll promise to be a good boy, won't you?"

Little Romano groaned, his face going red.

"Fine." He spat.

"Good boy."

Elder Romano patted Little Romanos head again as he stood, and Feliciano fell into a giggle-fit.

"How come he doesn't have to go to pre-school?" Romano sulked.

"He's too little." Grandpa confirmed "Feli will go to pre-school too when he's a big boy."

Little Romano continued to sulk, but allowed Grandpa to lead him into the building where the other children were being dropped off by their families. A pretty lady greeted them, and she and Grandpa spoke for a while.

"It's normal for them to be nervous on the first day." She told his grandpa "Especially when he's the big brother."

"He can be a little difficult." Grandpa said apologetically.

"Oh, I'm sure I've seen worse."

The pretty lady knelt down in front of Romano.

"Hello, sweetie." She greeted "My name is Bella. What's your name?"

"Romano." He said quietly, tugging on the back of his grandpas trousers.

"Romano? That's a very grown-up name. Do you have a nickname?"

"No, I don't, stupid lady."

"Romano!" Grandpa scolded.

Bella just laughed, holding out her hand.

"Shall we go play a game, Romano?" she asked him "All your friends are waiting for you inside, you know."

"They're not my friends."

"They will be soon, I just know it."

Bella gently took his hand and led him away from his Grandpa. Romano looked back, and his grandpa waved at him happily. Feliciano copied him, waving both his arms and giggling.

"I'll pick you up in a few hours, Romano!" Grandpa promised.

Bella led Romano to a large, brightly coloured room, alive with the sound of screaming brats.

"This is the play room." She told him "Through that door there is the potty."

"It's loud in here." Romano complained.

"You won't notice it when you start playing." Bella promised "Shall we find you some friends to play with?"

Bella pulled Romano over to a group of three blonde kids playing with large plastic bricks at one side of the room, who all looked over as Bella knelt down to their level.

"Good morning, everyone!" she said cheerfully.

"Good morning, Bella." They chanted back.

"You all look lovely this morning!" she enthused "That's a lovely ribbon, Lilly."

"Thank you." The girl replied shyly "My big brother bought it for me."

"He did? And he's only 11! It's so nice of him to spend his pocket money on you." Bella pulled Romano forward "We have a new friend today." She announced "This is Romano, and it's his very first day in pre-school. Romano, this is Lilly, Ludwig and Arthur, and they're going to be your new friends."

"Why are they all blonde? Did they fall in paint or something?" Romano spat.

"Why are you so sour-faced?" Arthur countered "You eat a bug on the way in?"

"What's that?!"

The two glared at each other, but Bella just laughed.

"You're best friends already!" she announced, clapping her hands happily.

She gave Romano a little push towards them as she stood up.

"You all play nice, okay? Bella's going to make some juice for everyone!"

Bella wondered off to the kitchen area, and Romano stood awkwardly in front of the other three, who stared at him a moment.

"We're building a castle." Lilly said finally "Do you wanna join us?"

"No." Romano said certainly.

"Oh…"

"Come over here, Lilly." Arthur instructed, gesturing to the spot on the mat beside him "We're going to make the princess' room over here."

Lilly got up and sat beside him, pulling out all the pink and white blocks. Arthur glared at Romano.

"You be nice to Lilly!" he warned.

"Or what, eyebrows?" Romano countered.

"Or her big brother will beat you up!"

"He's scary." Ludwig confirmed.

"Nobody asked you!" Romano yelled at him.

Ludwig looked surprised and confused. He turned to Arthur.

"Ignore him." He ordered "He just doesn't like you because you're bigger than him."

"That is not true, stupid head!"

"Hey, hey, what's all this then?" a laid back voice called.

They all looked around to see a man with a tray of drinks. He wore bright primary colours, had short, curly brown hair and smiled like an idiot.

"You kids shouldn't be fighting." He told them as he sat down "Here, I have juice for you all."

Romano huffed and looked in the opposite direction.

"Hey, these all have your names on!" the idiot realised with a laugh as he handed out the cups "That's a nice touch. I love you pink dungarees, Lilly, they're very cute."

"Thank you." She said quietly as she took her cup, trying her best to hide behind Arthur.

"She's shy with new people." Arthur explained.

"That is so sweet!" the boy enthused "My name is Antonio, Lilly. Arthur and Ludwig already know me because I'm friends with their big brothers."

"Their brothers?"

"Mm-hm, we're in the same class at school."

"Do you know my brother?" she asked "His name's Vash and he's in big school."

"No, I don't know him." Antonio admitted "But I might meet him when he comes up to secondary school. If he's your brother, I'm sure he must be must be nice."

"He's not nice." Arthur said right away.

"Sssshh!" Ludwig hissed at him.

Antonio laughed before turning to Romano.

"What about you, little man? What's your name?"

"It's on the cup, idiot! Can't you read?"

"Si, I can read, but I thought it would be nicer to ask you." Antonio replied without skipping a beat.

Romano felt his face grow warm as Antonio smiled at him.

"Romano." He mumbled.

"Romano? Hey, that's a nice name. What are you and your friends playing, Romano?"

"We're building a castle." He said quietly, fingering the hem of his T-shirt.

"Oh, I see. That's one good-looking castle! Can I play?"

"You're an adult! Go do adult things!" Romano ordered.

"I'm making the princess' room." Lilly told him "Arthur's making the wizards tower and Luddy's making the moat. What do you wanna make?"

Antonio thought a moment, 'hmm'ing theatrically.

"Why don't I make the stables?" he suggested "Brave knights need horses, afterall." He looked at Romano again "What are you making?"

"Nothing." Romano muttered.

"Then why don't you make the kitchen?" he suggested "I bet you'd be really good at it."

"Of course I would!"

"Well, then, let's get started."

He gently pushed Romano down so he was sitting beside him, pushing a pile of the brightly coloured blocks in his direction. Romano sulked a moment, but the other three seemed to be having fun, so he decided to join in.

* * *

Taking care of little kids was harder than he thought – it wasn't like when he went to Francis or Gilberts house, and their little brothers would join in with them, no, there was running, screaming, crying, more running, more crying, constantly having to watch what you say, having to keep an eye on all of them at the same time! Antonio was exhausted, more than happy that it was naptime.

"You're doing great!" Mrs Héderváry assured quietly "You have a real way with children, sweetie."

"I got lucky." He figured "Arthur and Luddy already know me, so it helps the other kids not be scared."

"Ha, look at him, so humble!" Bella slapped his back playfully "You got that kid Romano to play with the others without a fuss too! Not bad for your first day on the job!"

"Ah, Romano's not so bad."

"Hm," Mrs Héderváry hummed in a worried tone, checking to make sure the kids were all asleep in the other room before turning to them "His grandfather told me he's been very difficult since his parents died. Poor thing."

"His parents?" Antonio confirmed "That's so sad."

Bella nodded in agreement.

"Needless to say, it doesn't leave this room." The owner pointed out sternly, and the others nodded.

"Come on Antonio, we need to set up for the afternoon." Bella told him "Quiet as a mouse!"

The two crept out of the office. The silence of 20-odd sleeping children was a little unnerving.

"We're practising counting when they wake up." Bella whispered to him "So we have to get the big chalks out."

"They're doing counting already? These kids are pretty advanced."

"Not really. Last week we did 1-5, this week we're doing 6-10."

Antonio felt a tug on his trousers. Looking down, he saw a red faced Romano pulling on his pocket.

"I have to pee." He mumbled, not looking him in the eye.

"Okay, sweetie." Bella interjected immediately "You need me to show you where it is?"

"No, I remember." Romano insisted.

Despite his insistence, he didn't move, clutching Antonios pocket a little tighter.

"Do you need me to help you?" Bella asked softly.

"No, I don't need your help!" Romano yelled, red face deepening "I don't want a girl seeing my thing!"

Antonio snorted with laughter, covering his mouth as not to wake the other children. The little boy refused to let go of Antonios pocket, even as he started dancing where he stood.

"What's the problem, _amigo_?" Antonio asked, ruffling the boys hair "Is there some kind of monster in there or something?"

"Yes." The boy replied, although whether he was lying or not was unclear "Come and get rid of it."

Romano started to pull Antonio to the bathroom, Bella following quietly behind. The Spaniard made a drama of searching the entire room, but found nothing out of the ordinary. While Romano hid behind Bellas leg, Antonio grabbed a random toy that was lying around and threw it theatrically out of the little widow.

"All gone, _mi amigo_." He assured, wiping his brow like it had been hard work "No more monsters in here. You can urinate in peace now."

He went to leave, remembering the owners rules, but Romano grabbed him again.

"You have to stay here!" he insisted "What if the monster comes back?"

Antonio looked to Bella for support.

"I'll still be here." She assured the child "I'm super good at getting rid of monsters."

"Yeah, right."

Time was ticking on. They still to set up for this afternoon, and it was clear Romano was going to be difficult.

"Alright then!" Antonio declared "I, the brave Conquistador Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, will stand guard! Conquistador Bella, will you assist me in this noble duty?!"

"Aye, sir!"

Bella saluted.

"You're both idiots!" Romano shrieked, finally running into the stall and slamming the little door closed.

With a laugh, the woman gave him the thumbs up.

* * *

Antonio was exhausted. How did such little kids have so much energy? He could have cried with happiness when their parents started turning up to pick them up. He was surprised when Francis and Gilbert turned up too.

"What are you guys doing here? What about your work experience?"

"Did you forget I'm at the junior school down the road?" Gilbert asked "They let out about the same time, and Grandpa asked me to pick up Luddy. Since I'm so awesome, naturally my supervisor had no problem with it."

Antonio didn't believe that for a second.

"I thought I would use Arthur as a model." Francis admitted somewhat evilly, brandishing his scissors "Papa's been saying he needs a haircut."

"You're a mean brother, you know." Antonio chastised.

Arthur seemed to agree, and kicked up an unholy fuss. Francis had to chase him around the playroom for a good 15 minutes before finally catching the toddler, and even then he didn't give up struggling. Ludwig was far calmer, although it could be argued he was more in need of a haircut than Arthur – Antonio supposed if Gilbert were trying to cut his hair, Ludwig would take far longer than 15 minutes to catch.

Antonio said goodbye to the kids one-by-one, Bella introducing him briefly to their parents. Lilly's big brother Vash came to get her, and he was just as scary as Arthur and Luddy had said, which for an 11 year old was quite an accomplishment. Antonio had realised some time ago that Romano was hanging onto his pocket again, but decided not to make a fuss over it. Kids were kinda funny.

"Who's coming to get you, Romano?" Antonio asked as all but all the other children had left.

"Grandpa." He boy muttered "But he's probably busy with my brother. He probably forgot about me."

"Oh, I'm sure that's not true." Antonio assured "Old people are just slow moving and forgetful, that's all. Hey, why don't we go and play on the swings until he gets here? Won't that be fun?"

Romano pouted, but nodded anyway. Making sure to stay in full view of Bella (who was cleaning things up inside), Antonio played with Romano on the junglegym. Despite his insistence that being pirates was 'stupid', Romano seemed more than happy to play after seeing how much fun Antonio was having.

Eventually, a man did show up, baby carrier strapped to his chest, but he seemed far too young to be anyones grandpa.

"Grandpa, you're late!" Romano immediately started yelling at him "What the hell?"

"That's your grandpa?!" Antontio marveled "He looks like my pape…"

"Sorry, sorry, Romano." His grandpa apologised profusely "Grandpa overslept!"

"Maybe you don't take naps in the middle of the day like an old geezer then!"

Romano briefly introduced them, but seemed overly annoyed when Antonio noted what a sweetie his baby brother was. They bid goodbye, and as every bone in Antonios body groaned in exhaustion, he wasn't much comforted by the thought that he had to do this all again tomorrow.

* * *

Authors notes: I avoid Americanisms where possible, so here's a rough translation for the terms some readers may not be familiar with

**Pre-school**: what Americans call daycare.

**Kindergarten**: German word for Pre-school

**Secondary school:** the school you attend from age 11 to age 18

**Junglegym:** a climbing frame, traditionally made from wood, but these days more likely plastic or metal

**Work experience:** I'm sure other countries must do this, but here in Britain students do it when they're about 14/15, before the major exams start, so that gives you an insight into how old Antonio us. Things like child-care are often kept in reserve for people who don't have a clue about what they want to do, which is pretty sad considering what an important job it is.

So yeah, for those expecting the next chapter to 'Mine', sorry, you'll have to wait a little longer. I've started it, but I've been battling a fever for the last week, so I wanted something sweet. Spain is the kind of guy it strikes me is good with kids, especially the way he's shown with little Romano, so this kind of popped into my head. I admit I'm a fan of the fanart where the elder nations are shown with their younger siblings as kids.


	2. Chapter 2 Day 2

Second chapter, ahoy! Nothing much happens, but its not that kind of fic. Please enjoy the sweetness!

* * *

**Day 2.**

"Hey, your hair looks pretty good!"

"No, it doesn't! I look like a hedgehog!"

Arthur furiously pulled his hood up over his head, but it just wouldn't cover his face.

"Oh, it's not that bad." Antonio assured, knelt down to the little boys level "You look really cool."

"Gilby said I look like a nanmey character!"

Antonio chuckled. What was 'nanmey'? He grabbed Arthurs hood and pulled it back, and the little boy tried to cover his head with his arms, face bright red.

"You look so good, little man." Antonio went on "I'm thinking I'm gonna let Francis cut my hair too, so I can look cool like you."

"R-really?"

_Haha, no. _

The little boy finally looked up, green eyes full of hope and admiration.

"Of course!" No way "All your friends are going to be super jealous of your cool new hair, amigo!"

Arthur blushed happily, fingering his freshly cut blonde locks.

"It's really cool, huh?" he muttered.

"I guarantee it."

_I'm a filthy liar._

"Alright, then!" Arthur cheered "I'm gonna go show everyone!"

"Okay!"

Antonio flashed him a thumbs up and a smile, and Arthur ran off into the play room. Boy, was Arthur lucky 4 year olds didn't care about fashion. If he were a couple of years older, he'd have been teased mercilessly because of that mess. Poor bugger.

"Hey, Romano, it's your friend from yesterday!"

"Ah, good morning, Mr. Vargas!"

Grandpa Romano waved in greeting, baby Feliciano strapped to his chest again today. The old man looked tired and happy as the children ran past him into the playroom, little Romano clutching at his trouser leg again.

"Good morning, my Spanish friend." He greeted "How is your work experience going?"

"Tiring." Antonio admitted "These kids have a lot of energy."

Grandpa Romano laughed, turning to his grandson.

"Hey, little man, your friend is here. Don't you wanna go play?"

Little Romano went red and huffed, looking away from Antonio and clutching his grandfathers trouser leg tighter. Grandpa Romano laughed again.

"He's a funny boy." He told Antonio "He was talking about you all night, but now he's gone all shy!"

"Yeah," Antonio agreed "Kids are weird."

"I'm not weird!" Romano yelled at him "You're weird!"

He finally let go of his grandfather, instead grabbing the hand of Lily, who had just walked in with her brother, and pulling her into the play room with him.

"Have a good day, Romano!"

"Try to be on time today!" the boy yelled back as he disappeared.

* * *

Romano let go of Lily when he saw Arthur and Ludwig. The two had already grabbed the sugar paper and crayons, and were setting up on the table.

"Good morning, Arthur." Lily greeted in her usual quiet manner "I like your hair."

"It looks cool, right?" he enthused, eyes bright "You gonna colour with us today?"

"I wanna play ponies." She admitted.

"Okay." Arthur agreed "We'll colour first, then we'll play ponies!"

"Okay!"

Lily grabbed the red crayon offered by Arthur and sat next to Ludwig, taking and green sugar paper. Arthur grabbed another crayon and held it out to Romano. Little Romano was somewhat shocked for a second – he wasn't used to being invited to play – but he took the crayon and sat on the floor by Arthur.

"Oh, Romano, I told my brother about you." Lily told the boys as she grabbed another colour.

"You did? What for?" the Italian asked.

"He asked me what I did yesterday, and I told him I made a new friend." She elaborated "He said he's never heard the name 'Romano' before."

"Francis said the same thing." Arthur confirmed.

Ludwig nodded, although an educated guess could estimate that his older brother had been a little less polite about his observation.

"It's not that unusual!" said Romano insisted "I know at least 8 other people with that name!"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yes! My papa was Romano Vargas the 7th!" he announced "My grandpa is Romano Vargas 6th, his papa was Romano Vargas 5th!"

"So, you're Romano Vargas the eighth?" a lazy voice interrupted.

"That's right!"

Antonio sat down on the floor with the children, putting the plastic tray of drinks on the table.

"That's pretty cool, _amigo_." He admitted as he handed out the drinks "A whole bunch of people in my family are called Antonio. That's kind of boring compared to a name like 'Romano.'"

"My mother used to call me 'Lovino'." Romano admitted, despite his insistence yesterday that he had no nickname "She didn't like the name 'Romano.'"

"Is that so?" Antonio mused.

"Gilbert never calls me by my name." Ludwig confessed "I don't know why."

"Maybe he can't say it." Lily suggested "Ludig…Udwig… Luddy's name is hard to say."

_Maybe he's a jerk. _Antonio, since he was good friends with Gilbert, knew that the two brothers shared a bedroom, since their grandfather didn't earn that much, despite a long career as a teacher, and the budding adolescent had divided the room down the middle with a bookshelf. Ludwig wasn't old enough to understand what it was all about, especially as Gilbert spent as much time in his little brothers part of the room as his own. Somehow the boy had come up with the idea of calling his brother 'West.' Antonio had thought it was a pretty stupid name, and told Gilbert as much, but he had been assured that if he had had a brother, he would understand. But he was convinced Gilbert was just a jerk.

"You're lucky." Arthur muttered as he scribbled furiously "Francis is always calling me weird things. He keeps saying I'm a rabbit, and that mum and dad got me from the pet shop, but I'm not!"

"Francis is mean." Romano agreed, looking shocked, the pouted "I wish Feli had come from the petshop. Then I could take him back."

Francis was probably the polar opposite of Gilbert. While the gawky German pretended to distance himself while simultaneously doting on little Luddy, Francis was all over his brother at every opportunity, braiding his hair, blowing raspberries on his neck and stomach and tickling him whenever he managed to get his hands on the wriggly toddler. Antonio knew their parents weren't all that affectionate, and he figured Francis was trying to make up for that with Arthur, but he went a little overboard. It was no wonder the kid got confused about how to react to things.

"Is Feli your big brother?" Arthur asked him.

"No, he's my little brother." Romano revealed "Mama died when he was born, so he's got a funny face."

Wait, what? Antonio froze, a sudden cold sweat washing over him. Kids were kinda scary, for sure – Romano had said that so casually, like he was talking about someone elses mother, or the mother out of the fairy story.

"Vash has a funny face too." Lily prattled on "Mummy said he was born without a funny bone. I asked Santa to bring him one, but he bought him a BB gun instead. I got an extra present that year, 'cos Vash said I was such a good girl to ask for a present for someone else."

"Can I be your brother?" Arthur joked "I don't mind being your brother if I can get extra presents!"

"That's silly." Lily said bluntly "If you're my brother, who'll be my boyfriend?"

What?

"Ludwig will." Was Arthurs equally blunt answer, to which Ludwig simply nodded.

What? What, what?

* * *

"Oh dear, you mustn't let that bother you." Mrs Héderváry assured with a laugh "What these kids understand 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' to be is completely different from what adults think!"

"Completely, huh?"

"Of course! Most 'relationships' only last the afternoon, and they'll forget each other by the end of the week – they'll hold hands if they're little, but the older boys don't like it. It's really very funny!"

Antonio was relieved. He had been told often he was a little behind when it came to relationship stuff, but he didn't want to think a bunch of pre-schoolers were ahead of him. His image of their innocence was restored. Well, almost.

"Ah, yes, that sounds right." Mrs Héderváry said sadly as Antonio relayed the story of Romanos mother "Children process these things differently from adults. They can just accept things as fact when us adults might struggle with it. The way they mourn – they can seem absolutely fine, then suddenly their behaviour will change, just like that. I've seen it a lot, when kids lose their parents or grandparents. When Lily's parents got divorced, it didn't seem to affect her at all for the longest time, but then she started having nightmares and wetting herself at naptime." She sighed "That's when her brother started paying so much attention to her. He's a good boy." She turned to him sternly "Needless to say, that doesn't leave this room!"

"Of course." Antonio agreed.

"Antony!" Yao called from the playroom "It's snack time, come and help me hand out the fruit!"

Antonio returned to the playroom to the group of excited children, who were practically mugging the poor man, who held the box of fruit high on his chest. Embarrassingly, Antonio couldn't tell at first if Yao had been a man or a woman (did that make him racist?), but he felt a little better having another man around (a compatriot!). Turned out Bella worked every other day, and Yao worked the days she was off. That way, neither was too tired to deal with the children, and as Yao had a young family of his own, Antonio could imagine that was pretty important.

He took the box of fruit from the beleaguered Asian.

"Okay, everybody, line up!" Antonio called with playful authority "Good girls and boys get to eat fruit, boy boys and girls have to eat bugs!"

With squeals and tumbles, the kids formed what could haphazardly be called a line, and Antonio and Yao started handing out the fruit. As they came to the end, however, they came across a problem.

"Ahh, that damn grocer stiffed us again!" Yao hissed as he saw 3 pieces of fruit and 4 children waiting in line "I swear he can't count! We'll have to cut that pear in half."

"The kids will notice." Antonio knew, remembering how Arthur and Ludwig reacted when they were given less of something than their big brothers "What will we tell them?"

"The truth." Yao insisted "That they have less because someone didn't learn their numbers!"

That seemed a little complicated for a 5 year old to understand. Antonio was struck by an idea, running back into the office and grabbing backpack. He fished out his lunchbox and tore open the lid, pulling out one of the fresh grown tomatoes his mother had packed him. Tomatoes were a fruit!... He thought. They were, weren't they?

Little Romano seemed less than impressed when presented with it.

"It looks gross."

"It's really tasty!" Antonio insisted "My mama picked it fresh from her garden this morning, so I know it's good."

"How do you know it's not full of worms?"

_I'm gonna ignore that._

"I promise, Romano, it's super tasty." He assured "And it's a fruit, so it's good for you."

He remained unconvinced. He looked to his friends, who equally stared at the bright red thing with eyes of suspicion as they munched on their apples and pears.

"You like tomato sauce." Lily reasoned "Isn't that what it's made from?"

"Hey, yeah!" Arthur agreed "Eat it, see if it tastes like tomato sauce!"

"Does it taste like tomato sauce?" Ludwig parroted.

As if his mothers delicious home grown produce would taste like that shit!

"Yeah, of course." He plain lied.

Reluctantly, Romano took the tomato. He sniffed it, turned it around in his hands and inspected it all over, holding it up to the light, and finally licking it. _Kids are weird… _Finally, the child took a tentative bite. Finally, he seemed convinced, taking a bigger bite and joining his friends on the mat. Antonio breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, that's one problem solved." Yao agreed "Good work. You and Lizzy watch these kids, I'm going to go and yell at that idiot grocer for 5 minutes!"

"Have fun."

Antonio grimaced. He was thankful not to be on the receiving end of that lecture.

* * *

"Grandpa, you're early!"

Grandpa Romano stood at the entrance of the playroom, baby Feli in his carrier, surveying a scene he'd never imagined – his little Romano was playing with the other children! That boy Antonio was on his hands and knees, looking utterly miserable, with Romano and a sweet little blonde girl on his back. He had one end of a skipping rope in his mouth, the other being held by a neat looking blonde boy.

"Are you okay there, boy?" he asked him.

"I'm a horsey." He managed to relay feebly through the wood in his mouth.

"And I'm the knight!" a scruffy blonde boy dressed up in a plastic knight costume declared, raising his plastic sword into the air "We've rescued the princess from the dragon!"

"I was the dragon too. Then I was a dog. Then I was a witch. Now I'm a horsey." 

"Horseys can't talk!" Romano scolded, kicking the poor boy in the side.

"Romano!"

"No, he's right." Antonio whimpered "Horseys can't talk."

Grandpa couldn't help but sympathise as he saw the boys arms and legs start to waver under the weight of the two kids on his back.

"Come on, Romano, we have to go." He urged his grandson "We have to go food shopping."

"Buy me tomatoes!" the kid ordered as he scrambled off the boy.

His arms and legs gave up, and Antonio crashed to the ground.

"So hungry..."

"Say good-bye to your friends, Romano."

Grandpa Romano was elated – he never imagined he would be able to say that for difficult Little Romano. He bid the other children good-bye, and Antonio waved weakly from the floor. To put up with this, Grandpa thought, he sure must love kids.

* * *

Enjoy an insight in Antonios inner monologue? I love the way kids can just accept things about the world, and they make friends so easily...

being an adult is too complicated.


End file.
